Israeli Palestinian Conflict

I have no problem with Israel's right to exist, and in a state of peace. However, and here there is a significantly sized however, I also have no problem with the Palestinians having a right to also exist in a state of peace. Both these objectives need not be incompatible with one another.

For the first time in a major Arab-Israeli conflict, the American public has other sources of reality. All research says that young people everywhere regard Twitter as essentially a news service, and via your social network you can easily get served up words and pictures more impactful than anything on TV. By the time many Americans woke up on Sunday, these pictures were of dead Palestinian children.

This cannot go on. Humans live in Gaza, remarkably like us. They laugh, they cry, they die. But too many of them die before their time. And that is true for those 29 Israeli military boys who have died, none older than his 20s. Cannot their end be the starting point for something revolutionarily new? Getting inside each others heads, understanding the other, or is it all just too late?

Democracy is only as legitimate as the freedom it guarantees its citizens. Freedom of thought, body and conscience are denied to Israelis as long as it continues to force unwilling teenagers towards war.

Eslam wrote back to my sister in tears. She saw that yes, Israelis are human too! That they are shown the same images as she is. That no one hates her for simply being a Palestinian. That there are people out there who really care for her and her safety. And most of all that there is a chance for peace. She was overwhelmed by all of our love for her. And I decided that this article would instead be dedicated to her. To her strength, and that of all those on BOTH "sides of the fence" who question what they are told, acknowledge that we are all in fact the same, and reach out to each other with hope for peace for ALL.

Earlier this year, when I was in Gaza, people everywhere asked me the same thing: "Ah, how do you find it here? What do you think of this place?" It's a challenging question. How do I find Gaza? Unexpectedly beautiful. Impossibly sad.